City spins its wheels in driveway flap

Brian Lockhart and Michael P. Mayko

Updated 11:01 pm, Friday, June 14, 2013

A pair of Bridgeport residents checks out the new City of Bridgeport-owned driveway recently completed to access the waterfront home of Mark IV Construction owner Manuel Moutinho, on Wednesday, June 5, 2013.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

A new City of Bridgeport-owned driveway was recently completed to access the waterfront home of Mark IV Construction owner Manuel Moutinho in Stratford on Wednesday, June 5, 2013.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

The entrance off Sniffens Lane in Stratford to the new City of Bridgeport-owned driveway recently completed to access the waterfront home of Mark IV Construction owner Manuel Moutinho, on Wednesday, June 5, 2013.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

A pair of Bridgeport residents checks out the new City of Bridgeport-owned driveway recently completed to access the waterfront home of Mark IV Construction owner Manuel Moutinho, on Wednesday, June 5, 2013.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

A pair of Bridgeport residents checks out the new City of Bridgeport-owned driveway recently completed to access the waterfront home of Mark IV Construction owner Manuel Moutinho, on Wednesday, June 5, 2013.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

BRIDGEPORT --The city says it did not dip into a $2.6 million federal airport safety grant to also pay millionaire developer Manny "Manuel" Moutinho $400,000 to install a gravel driveway to his waterfront mansion in Stratford.

Sikorsky Airport Manager John Ricci's confusing statements at city meetings, the lack of any paper trail to clearly explain how the driveway was funded, and the city administration's decision to keep the expense concealed for months have raised questions about who spent whose money on what. Had some of the FAA's $2.6 million gone directly to Moutinho? Was it used to repay the city's debt for the driveway costs?

And with the FAA also set to cover 90 percent of the $40 million safety zone, and Moutinho already on the FBI's radar, the last thing Bridgeport needs is for federal authorities to suspect any of their dollars have been misused.

"Of course the feds are looking into this," maintained Edward Adams, a retired FBI agent who helped lead the investigation that led to the convictions of former Mayor Joseph Ganim and 12 others on public corruption charges.

Adams, who now heads Adams and Associates, a private investigation firm in Fairfield, believes "the normal course of business would be to detail this expenditure...or at least reference it in other plans or documents" in the package of information provided by the City Attorney's office to the City Council last fall.

The grant was not used to reimburse Bridgeport for the $3 million the city borrowed, also late last summer, that did include the driveway funds.

"The $3 million ... is separate and distinct," Ficarra said Thursday.

A spokesman for the Inspector General's office in the FAA said neither the investigation or audit team is reviewing the matter at this time.

The FBI is investigating a dispute between Moutinho and Trumbull over an allegedly botched sewer project.

Hearst Connecticut Newspapers first reported on the driveway earlier this month. Subsequent stories about Ricci's real estate transactions with Moutinho --who has battled Bridgeport in court while contributing to local politicians -- led Finch to suspend the airport manager and launch an internal probe.

Steven Ford, the airport's chief of operations, is now running things day-to-day.

FAA spokesman Jim Peters, asked if the agency is concerned about the Moutinho scandal and planning its own investigation, in an email Thursday only stated that the overall Sikorsky safety initiative is on schedule.

"The FAA, state of Connecticut and City of Bridgeport continue to work closely on the project," Peters wrote.

Bridgeport has said it needed to relocate and rebuild Moutinho's driveway, which is also used by three neighboring property owners, for Sikorsky's safety zone -- even though Moutinho had already been planning on doing the same thing, for $200,000 less.

Hiring Moutinho to build the driveway without a formal bid was, the city has said, the fastest and cheapest option.

The driveway entrance is off Sniffens Lane in Stratford, and runs through a decades-old right-of-way across airport property to Moutinho's mansion on Stratford's shoreline.

The confusion over the use of the $2.6 million airport grant originated last summer when the Finch administration first decided to assume the driveway project.

The mayor's office has said the $400,000 was included in $3 million the City Council borrowed Sept. 17 -- representing Bridgeport's share of the $40 million safety zone price tag.

But not only were City Council members not told about the driveway that evening, but neither the driveway -- nor the $3 million -- is specifically mentioned in records of council members' discussion and vote.

Instead Ricci focused on a "$2.4 million" grant agreement with the FAA.

The mayor's office had previously produced paperwork supporting its claim that the council was asked Sept. 17 to borrow $3 million for the airport, although again there is no mention of $400,000 for the driveway.

On Thursday, Ficarra provided a copy of a resolution the council also passed Sept. 17 accepting the terms of the FAA's $2.6 million grant to "take the city through the final design and permitting of the project."

Ficarra forwarded copies of the grant agreement with the FAA signed by Finch and Lisa Trachtenburg -- the same associate city attorney who with Ricci approved hiring Moutinho to build his own driveway.

Once the city receives the necessary permits for construction of the actual $40 million runway safety zone, the state Department of Transportation will take over and be responsible for spending the FAA's 90 percent contribution.